I know some of you helped Benjamin design his study.... can you now help him with the finished article?

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Hello all,

Firstly, thank you to everyone who took part in my last study. It was great speaking to you all and you gave me some really great feedback. I’m now starting my next study and I would like to invite everyone who’s interested to participate

The aim of this new study is to assess whether a brief, self-administered psychological task known as the 'Best Possible Self' (BPS) exercise can improve diabetes self-management and blood sugar control by boosting mood and feelings of control. By getting people to write about themselves in the future, previous research has shown that the BPS can help people set goals, manage and restructure their priorities, and express and come to term with their emotions. This has helped people with other health complaints improve their self-management strategies. Though the BPS has never been used to help people manage their diabetes specifically, similar tasks have had some considerable success. This study's findings will go some way to developing a novel intervention for diabetes self-management as well providing scientists with a more nuanced understanding of how emotions influence coping with diabetes.

Your participation in the study will last for 4 weeks. If you decide to take part, you will be required to complete a series of questionnaires online that measures aspects of your self-management care and general well-being. You will then need to report recent blood sugar results (including HbA1c) as well as some basic personal information such as age, gender, ethnicity, and BMI. You will then be randomly allocated to one of five groups where you will be either given a version of the BPS or put on a waiting list to receive it. You will then be left to practice the BPS by yourself for the remainder of the trial. How frequently you have to do it will depend on your group allocation. After 4 weeks of doing the task, you will be sent a link via email to complete some final questionnaires. Though 4 weeks seems a long time, doing the questionnaires will only take a maximum 20 minutes and the BPS will take a maximum 10 minutes out of your day. It is designed to be brief so that it can be used in real life.